Now That Voting Law Overturned, What Can We Expect in November?

A federal appeals court had some strong language in last week’s decision that struck down North Carolina's 2013 voting law overhaul. The judges concluded that lawmakers had deliberately passed the law with the intent of curbing voter turnout among African-Americans.

Sen. Bob Rucho, R-Mecklenburg, says the court should be "embarrassed" by that conclusion. He was one of the architects of the voting law.

"For them to make a statement of accusing the General Assembly of using race under the Voting Rights ACT, that is outrageous!"

Under the ruling, the general election will have more days of early voting, out-of-precinct votes will be counted, there will be same-day registration, and there won't be voter ID.

Our political analyst, Professor Michael Bitzer of Catawba College, spoke to WFAE's Mark Rumsey about what this means for November.

Judges one step below the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday the major parts of North Carolina's 2013 election overhaul are unconstitutional. The federal appeals court ruled that Republican state lawmakers restricted voting and registration in five different ways, all of which disproportionately affected African-Americans. WFAE's Michael Tomsic has been covering this case for three years and joined Mark Rumsey to discuss.

With any general election, there are two aspects that most political analysts will start to evaluate: the composition of the possible electorate (‘who shows up’) and the behavior of that possible electorate (‘how do different groups vote?’).

Granted, North Carolina’s potential electorate can expand between now and November, but an early breakdown of the voter registration pool can give some hint of who is eligible to cast their ballots in the fall.